Rose Totino Pizza Entrepreneur Chapter 1 Pizza Pioneer It’s Friday night and your best friend is over You’ve planned an evening of fun activities and favorite foods After a bike ride it’s time for dinner Opening the freezer you spot the thin red box Your friend smiles as you pull the Totino’s Party Pizza out of its box In minutes you’ll have a warm crispy crust topped with perfectly seasoned sauce and tasty cheese Rose Totino is the one to thank for your Friday night pizza feast She began making pizzas in Minnesota in the 1950s At the time this Italian dish was new to people in the Midwest Many had never tried pizza before or even heard of it Totino and her husband Jim opened a pizzeria that became very popular Then they began making frozen pizzas people baked at home Totino invented a new kind of dough for these pizzas It was the first frozen pizza dough that became crispy when baked Totino’s invention revolutionized the frozen foods world It greatly improved frozen pizza and was a primary reason 4
We didn’t plan on setting the world on fire We just knew how to make good pizza said Totino of her and Jim’s success the food became popular in the United States Today frozen pizzas are an American staple About 1 million Totino’s Party Pizzas are sold every day The chef behind this successful brand learned to cook in a small Minneapolis Minnesota kitchen 5
Rose Totino Pizza Entrepreneur Chapter 2 Italian Upbringing Rosenella Winifred Cruciani was born on January 16 1915 in Minneapolis Her family called her Rose Rose was the middle child She had six brothers and sisters The Crucianis had immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1910 They lived in Pennsylvania for a short time before settling in Northeast Minneapolis Northeast Minneapolis was home to many Italian immigrants The Crucianis and other families in the neighborhood kept their Italian culture alive Rose’s mother was a skilled cook who often made classic Italian foods One was a pie made of dough and topped with sauces cheese and sausage The dish was called pizza and was a family favorite Rose’s mother passed her recipes and cooking talents to her daughter The Cruciani family did not have a lot of money Rose’s father taught his children that success came through hard work At age 16 Rose dropped out of school to work full time and earn money to help her family Rose cleaned other people’s houses She earned 2 50 each week for this work 6
During her childhood Rose’s family had chickens and a garden to help provide food 7
